Book Brief: Prying Eyes

By Paul B. Brown |
Posted 08-01-2004

Prying Eyes: Protect Your Privacy From People Who Sell to You, Snoop on You, and Steal From You
By Eric J. Gertler
Random House, July 2004 448 pages, $16.95

The premise of this book is stark and scary: "Everything you do, say, type, work on or examine can be tracked and monitored." Gertler, the former CEO of Privista (recently acquired by Equifax), a software company that focused on credit management and identity-theft protection, provides consumers with tips to maximize their privacy. Ideas such as not giving out your Social Security number and not making calls from cell phones won't come as a surprise. But perhaps you can use this book to explain to your employees in detail why your company has the privacy policies it does, and how much, if any, "spying" you are doing. That can save you a lot of time and grief later on.